


Serendipity

by brookebond



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, M/M, flirting through words, it's just a cute little thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 05:20:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13675062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brookebond/pseuds/brookebond
Summary: Three times words on his coffee cup freaked Arthur out and one time it didn't.





	Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WritLarge](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritLarge/gifts).



> First off, I wanna say a big thank you to pinky and amy for cheerreading this. You don't know what it means to me, honestly.  
> Secondly, thank you so so so so so freakin' much to deinvati for betaing this. She is a genius, don't let her tell you otherwise.  
> Thirdly, the prompt for this was 'Serendipity'. I hope I hit the mark for what you wanted, writlarge.
> 
> Happy Valentine's Day!

1.

“I don’t care what Nash said, it isn’t possible to complete it in three days,” Arthur groaned into his phone, wishing there was a way to get rid of the greasy fucker from his team. Nash always promised things to clients they couldn’t possibly follow through on and Arthur was beyond over it. “We need at least a week, two would be preferable.” Arthur held the door to his local coffee shop open for someone to exit, nodding in acknowledgment when they thanked him. “If you can’t make that work, we’ll have to drop the job.” Arthur scanned the shop for Ari, desperately hoping she was behind the counter so she could make his coffee. No one else in the store managed it quite like she did and, after dealing with disgruntled clients, Arthur  _ really _ needed his drink made exactly right. “If you don’t get back to me with confirmation of an extension by the end of the day, I’ll assume we no longer have the job.” He ended the call, slipping his phone into the inside pocket of his jacket and rested his head on the counter, waiting for Ari to come and take his order.

“Triple espresso,” Arthur demanded, his voice muffled by the counter.

“Rough day, mate?” someone—who was decidedly  _ not _ Ari—asked.

Arthur stood, clearing his throat as he straightened his jacket. He’d made a fool of himself many times, it wasn’t entirely unusual for him, but he tried not to do so in front of complete strangers especially ones that looked as though they belonged on the cover of a fucking magazine. “Something like that.” If he could, Arthur would have burrowed into the ground as fast as possible. The look the gorgeous guy behind the counter was giving him was enough to give Arthur flashbacks to high school and when he had finally admitted to everyone that he was gay; no one was surprised at all. “Can I get a triple espresso to go, please?”

“‘Course. That’ll be six dollars,” the guy said, picking up a cup and a permanent marker. “Name?”

“Arthur,” he replied, pulling out ten dollar bill and handing it over after he was finished writing.

Arthur moved out of line, stuffing his hands, and his change, into the pockets of his jacket as he watched the guy move behind the coffee maker, swiftly going through the motions of making drinks as someone else took orders. He wondered where Ari was, she habitually worked on a Friday so something must have been wrong.

He was in the middle of coming to the conclusion that he would ask for her number the next time she was there when he heard his name being called, the English accent rolling over the consonants in his name. He grabbed the drink, ignoring the grin he got from the annoyingly cute barista.

Two blocks away, Arthur had paused, waiting to cross Canal, when he looked at his cup. His name was fairly simple, most people found it easy to spell but he had had some exciting variations and wondered if today would be one of those days. Instead of his name, though, was an entirely different word.

_ EPIPHANY _

Arthur frowned, spinning the cup around to find his name but there was only that word. Epiphany.

His phone rang, buzzing violently in his pocket and distracting him from the mystery word.

 

2.

“Seriously, Arthur. You should branch out. Try something new.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, catching sight of the barista from the last time he had been in the shop. “Fine,” he groused. “Give me a cappuccino.” He’d learned quickly that it was easier to appease Ari than attempt to fight her. She was as stubborn as his younger sister and fighting with her had never ended well. He could only imagine what an argument with Ari would be like.

“—with whipped cream,” Ari said, snapping Arthur out of his thoughts, leaving him sputtering as she passed his cup on to the pretty barista. “Three fifty.”

“Shouldn’t that cost more?” he asked, handing over the money and trying hard not to watch the barista as a tiny crease formed between his eyebrows.

“Cream is on the house today,” Ari replied with a wink.

Arthur took his change and escaped to a corner of the shop, hoping to hide his warming cheeks. He was used to Ari’s ribbing, they had become sort of friends through his constant need for caffeine and her willingness to supply him with it, but he wasn’t sure what she was trying to imply with this particular bit.

He looked over at the counter, watching people collect their orders and steadfastly ignoring Ari as she attempted to mouth something at him. Whatever she was trying to achieve, Arthur was going to pay her back for. Definitely. He already knew how, as well. The one time he’d brought Mal into the store, Ari had lost her cool and had shaken as she’d written their names and orders on their cups.

Mal would be his ultimate weapon against her.

“Cappuccino, whipped cream,” came the call, snapping Arthur into action. He grabbed his drink, not making eye contact with the barista because it was embarrassing enough that he’d been talked into a new drink let alone having all that ridiculous cream on top. He was going to have to do an extra hour at the gym to make up for the added calories.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, fingers brushing against the barista’s. The touch was barely enough to register but it still sent a small thrill through him that lasted all the way back to his office.

The cup sat forgotten, empty save for traces of cream that had melted in the following hours while Arthur got lost in fixing another of Nash’s mistakes. When he was finally shutting everything down for the evening, well past the time he was supposed to finish, Arthur noticed the cup and the harsh black scribble that marred the otherwise pristine white. Beneath the scribble sat a single word.

_ MELLIFLUOUS _

Arthur frowned at the swirling word, the way the letters all looped together in a rather unfairly beautiful way. The word itself wasn’t familiar, but something about it was soothing as though the word had wrapped itself around him in a cocoon.

He grabbed the cup and tossed it in the trash, making sure the word was facing down.

Hours later, when he was having trouble sleeping, Arthur grabbed his phone and looked up the definition.

 

3.

Arthur dragged himself to the coffee shop, determined to carve out a whole half hour for himself without any interruptions. He’d turned his phone off before he’d stormed out of the office, demanding that Dom get Nash the fuck out of the place before he was back or Arthur was going to walk. He’d had enough of Nash’s incompetence and couldn’t stand another second wading through the crap Nash always left in his wake.

“You’re looking particularly perky today,” Ari chirped, earning a glare from Arthur as he grumbled his order. “If you get any happier, we might actually be in danger.”

Arthur grunted, paid for his drink and skulked off to sit as far away from the others in the store. It was a pretty small place but there was enough distance between Arthur and the other patrons for him to feel as though he had a small amount of privacy. It wasn’t perfect, but it was more than Arthur had had all day and it was heaven.

The chair was cozy, lulling him towards a dangerous mid-afternoon snooze. Even the murmurs of the others in the shop were adding to his sleepy state. He was seriously considering closing his eyes for a few minutes when someone cleared their throat, startling him into a sitting position. He hadn’t even realised he’d slipped and let his head drop onto the back of the chair.

“Sorry,” Arthur muttered, trying to cover the fact that he had been close to sleeping in a public place.

“Perfectly alright,” a crisp English accent said.

Arthur sucked in his lower lip, biting into it as the pretty barista set his drink down. “I didn’t ask to take it away,” he said when he noticed the white cardboard cup he normally had.

“I know,” the barista said with a smile that broadened when Arthur shifted in his seat. “Enjoy,” he said and left Arthur sitting there, watching him walk away. There was a distinct swagger that would have looked put on by anyone else, but the barista managed to pull it off, and Arthur wondered if it was because of his bulk or because Arthur just thought he was extremely attractive.

Arthur tried not to let his gaze linger, forcing himself to look at the cup. His name was there, not scribbled out like the last time, but there was another word beneath it again.

_ LIMERENCE _

He ran his thumb over the word, murmuring it as quietly as he could. It tasted sweet in his mouth, rolling off his tongue with an ease he hadn’t expected for a word he didn’t know the meaning of.

Arthur pulled out his phone, bringing up the dictionary and searched the word.

_Limerence_ _  
__/ˈlɪmɪrəns/_ _  
__Noun_ _  
__1._ _  
__(_ ** _psychol_** __) a state of mind resulting from romantic attraction, characterized by feelings of euphoria, the desire to have one's feelings reciprocated, etc.

Arthur stared at his screen, the definition not quite meeting up with what he had expected. He glanced over at the counter, finding the barista watching him. As pretty as he was, Arthur wasn’t sure he could handle whatever game the barista was playing.

He grabbed his coffee and left the shop as fast as he could without actually running from the building.

 

+1.

There wasn’t time for coffee, Arthur knew that. There were a million things he needed to do, mostly tidying up after the fallout from Nash being fired, but it didn’t stop him from walking into the coffee shop and giving Ari a bright—albeit tight—smile as he ordered a triple espresso.

“Something’s got you in a good mood,” she said, writing his name on the cup and adding it to the rest.

“Not really,” he replied with a shrug, moving to the side so the next person could order. The shop was busy, almost full to the brim with people. It was busier than Arthur had ever seen it. The only thing that was different was the barista, the unfairly attractive one that rolled Arthur’s name as though it was a piece of candy worth savouring.

Arthur found a spot near the wall where he could lean and have a good view of the shop while he waited. There were ten messages waiting for him on his phone and probably several more emails waiting to be answered, but Arthur allowed himself the luxury of just watching the shop as everyone went about their business. Though, mostly Arthur found his gaze wandering back to the barista.

Limerence echoed in his mind, the single word surprisingly not leaving him with a bad sense of foreboding. Something was different today. Arthur wondered if the barista left words on anyone else’s cups and, as people collected their orders, Arthur attempted to catch a glimpse. From what he could see, the cups were all adorned with nothing more exciting than some creative misspellings of their names. Perhaps it was just an off day or maybe the barista had been spoken to about his weird penchant for writing strange words instead of people’s names.

“Triple espresso for Arthur.”

He had to push past a few people to get his drink, making it to the counter after having to apologise for shoving some people out of his way. Part of Arthur wanted the barista to look at him, offer a smile like he had in the past. But it was too busy and Arthur was just another one of the many that wanted their caffeine fix.

He took his drink, pausing outside the shop to take a sip before he ventured any further. As he was lowering the cup, a flash of black caught his eye. His name was there, scrawled in Ari’s illegible writing, but so was another word and a series of numbers.

_ SERENDIPITY _

It took longer than Arthur was willing to admit before he clicked as to what the numbers actually were for.

It was a phone number.

He glanced back inside, noting that it was only Ari and the barista working despite how busy the shop was. Arthur already had Ari’s number and he knew for certain that she wasn’t interested in him that way—the feeling was entirely mutual—which meant that it had to be the barista’s. He had no idea what the guy’s name was but apparently Arthur was now the proud owner of his digits.

Arthur pulled out his phone, ignoring all the other messages that were far more urgent, and sent a text to the new number.

_ I can’t believe I have your number before I know your name. _

Arthur moved to stand just out of view of the coffee shop, not wanting to come across more strange than he already had. It didn’t take long before his phone chimed with a new message.

_ You never asked. _

Arthur smiled, having to concede that point.

_ I’m asking now. _

He contemplated going back inside to actually talk to the barista, hear the way he pronounced his name with his accent. But his phone chimed, cutting off the thought.

_ Eames. _

Arthur frowned at the screen, wondering if it was a typo. No other text came through, though, to clarify an error. “Eames,” he said, trying the name to see how it felt in his mouth. It was smooth, silky, slipping from his tongue in a way that had Arthur slightly jealous for how good it felt.

_ Interesting name. When do you finish? _

The question flowed without a second thought, and, as Arthur watched the message send, he found that he really wanted to know the answer. He wanted to discover why Eames had been writing those words on his cups instead of speaking to him. He wanted an opportunity to prove he wasn’t as strange as he had unintentionally made himself out to be.

_ 5\. I love Italian food and cheap beer. _

Arthur smiled, stepping back in front of the shop window and glancing inside. Eames wasn’t behind the counter, he had taken a seat near the front window and was toying with his phone. Obviously waiting for Arthur’s reply.

_ Propitious. _

Arthur waited for Eames to read the text, watching as a smile overtook his face before locking his phone and slipping it into his pocket. Italian food and cheap beer. He could definitely work with that.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Epiphany — a moment of sudden revelation
> 
> Mellifluous — a sound that is sweet and smooth, pleasing to hear
> 
> Limerence — the state of being infatuated with someone
> 
> Serendipity — the chance occurrence of events in a beneficial way
> 
> Propitious — giving or indicating a good chance of success; favourable.


End file.
